History Of The Cold War The Easy Way or The Nasty Way: De-colonisation "Independence can only be obtained and secured by a nation that has its spirit raging with determination: "independence or death"!" —Sukarno The end of the Second World War had meant that the colonial powers could no longer afford to maintain their empires. New ideas like democracy, self-determination and nationalism, began to spread throughout the world and many in the colonies were no longer willing to tolerate colonial rule. Neither the Americans or the Soviets were keen on colonies either, and called for "decolonization" in the name of self-determination and freedom. Arguably this was slightly hypocritical given that America had itself had been a major colonial power in the pre-war period. America was also quite happy to subvert governments of various important countries , installing dictators who would stand against Communism. Of course, the Soviets did the same thing . As

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